Inside Baseball: Time For Red Sox To Shake It Up With Lineup
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Boston Red Sox went 5-5 on their recent road trip, thanks in large part to a vast improvement from their starting pitchers.
However, now it's the Red Sox lineup that is struggling. Dan Roche and Tony Massarotti dissected this new issue on Monday night's Inside Baseball on the WBZ-TV News at 10 on myTV38, and say it all starts with the team's OPS.
The team currently ranks 25th in all of baseball with a .672 OPS, and when it comes to first base and right field, Boston is dead last in terms of OPS from those positions:
"Typically they're in the top two or three, if not No. 1 [in team OPS]. If you want offense you need those guys to produce, and they're not getting it [done] right now," said Massarotti.
The Red Sox were able to send a message to their pitching staff with the dismissal of pitching coach Juan Nieves. While Mazz isn't calling for hitting coach Chili Davis to lose his job, he said it's time for a similar shakeup in the lineup.
"I try to shake it up if for no other reason to do exactly what they did with the pitching staff: Send a message," said Mazz. "Mike Napoli, you're not in the five-hole anymore; you're either dropping to seventh or on the bench. With all due respect to what he's done in the past and done in the big league's he's not producing."
The same goes for David Ortiz, who is batting just .236 with 14 RBI on the season out of the three-spot.
"I would consider moving Ortiz down in the lineup and batting [Pablo] Sandoval third against right-handed pitching," said Mazz. "Shake it up a little and move guys around. Let it be known that if they don't produce in those spots, you'll find someone who will."
Watch the full segment above, including Rochie and Mazz's analysis on John Farrell's blunder in Seattle, and catch Inside Baseball every Monday night on the WBZ-TV News at 10 on myTV38!
